This is only available to those 330,000 students who qualify for free lunches at the Chicago Public Schools: The partnership between the city schools and Comcast is the first of its kind in the nation. "Having access to high-speed Internet service allows children to do schoolwork, adults to find jobs and grow the city's economy, and families to learn and explore together," Emanuel said in a press release. Home internet that would normally cost $48.95 per month will be available to qualifying families for $9.95 per month under the Internet Essentials program, Emanuel said. And families will also be able to purchase computers for $150, he said. The program will launch this fall. This Tribune article a retweet from the 6th Ward Chicago (our official service office) twitter account. :P

  Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Happy Memorial Day Worlee not only honors the military on this day, but also Thomas Wortham, Michael Bailey, and Cory Ankum. The first two police officers and the last one a fire fighter.

2011, is the 150th anniversary of the US Civil War so in honor of that conflict a painting of the 54 Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment . This army unit was portrayed in the film Glory starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, and Cary Elwes. Well the weekend is already off to a wet start. Hopefully this day will allow you to take part in any outdoor plans on Memorial Day!

  Concerned Citizens of Chatham: Pictures From Officer Thomas Wortham Memorial Worlee posted some pictures at his blog from last Thursday's memorial for the late police officer Thomas Wortham. This event took place at Cole Park @ 361 E. 85th St. It was a year ago when Officer Wortham was killed outside of his family home near Cole Park. Wortham was the victim of an attempted robbery.

View Larger Map This crime apparently happened Thursday morning . Found this story through EveryBlock : It happened this morning at a KFC on the 100-block of East 95th Street. Police say the robbers emptied the restaurant's safe. One person was being treated at the scene for what the Fire Department says was a battery. There have been no other reports of serious injuries. A restaurant employee says a gunshot was fired but nobody was hit. Good to know no one was seriously hurt! What you see above is a Google Streetview of the KFC @ 95th & Michigan.

Just sent from the Alderman's office on Wednesday. What else do you think needs to be done to prevent crime in our community? Sawyer Police Realignment Press Release

I should've actually attempted to post this yesterday. I hope there's an update to this as to whether or not authorites or the family know this little girl's location: Police are searching for an 8-year-old girl who disappeared from a Far South Side park. The little girl, who was reported missing around 9 p.m., was last seen at Tuley Park, 501 East 90th Place, and lives on the 9100 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue. According to authorities, the missing girl is 3 1/2 feet tall and her hair was styled in three braids. She was last seen wearing a green shirt with a flower on the front, red pants, and black and red gym shoes.

Added some new information to this post first written on May 16, 2011. Added are the office hours to Alderman Sawyer's service office. Some of this information was announced at the recent GCA meeting with Ald. Sawyer and Chief of Staff Sleet - Levois Alderman Rod Sawyer From Worlee's blog, Concerned Citizens of Chatham : Effective 5/17/2011 the 6th ward service office will relocate to 463 1/2 E. 83rd Street (83rd and Eberhart), Chicago, IL 60619 Office Phone 773-635-0006 E-mail 6thWardChicago(at)gmail.com Facebook 6th Ward Chicago Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/6thWardChicago Office Hours Mon-Thursday 9am-5pm Friday-Saturday 10am -2pm Closed Sundays. Evening hours will be scheduled in the future. The new staff of the 6th ward is as follows:  Chief of Staff Brian Sleet Roderick Sawyer - Alderman Brian Sleet - Chief of Staff Jasmine McCalpin - Aide Candace Briggs - Aide Craig Davis - Aide (part-time) Paul Bryson - Supervisor, Streets and Sa

Chicago Tribune : Starting Sunday, the South Side districts getting the extra manpower are the Grand Crossing, South Chicago, Calumet, Gresham, Englewood and Chicago Lawn districts, one of the sources said. The two districts on the West Side getting more officers are the Harrison and Austin districts, the source said. The source described the 90-day reassignments — the longest duration of time the department can detail officers to other units without their consent — as an evaluation period for acting Superintendent Garry McCarthy to decide whether the officers' presence on district patrol is more effective in areas with a high crime rate than if they were working in the Mobile Strike Force and Targeted Response Unit. Those two units, which will be all but depleted by the reassignments, are typically sent to parts of the city experiencing spikes in violent crimes, including gang shootings, homicides and armed robberies, before moving to other areas where such crimes

A picture provided by Unknown Chicago with these details: (9140 S. State St.) Built in the 1830s, this stage-coach stop stood 11 miles south of Fort Dearborn on the old State Highway. The Dan Ryan goes through the site today.

I haven't been paying much attention to the retrial, but I would be very curious about whatever testimony Mayor Emanuel may offer in our former Governor's corruption trial. Who knows if the Mayor would be considered a hostile witness in which case well he should've been the federal government's witness. As we see here, the Mayor is ready to testify. "I'm ready if asked to testify," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday during an unrelated news conference. Emanuel has been subpoenaed along with congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., White House advisor Valerie Jarrett, Sen. Dick Durbin and Majority Leader Harry Reid. But that doesn't mean any of them will be called. The government alleges that Blagojevich delayed a promised grant to a northwest side school in an attempt to force then-congressman Emanuel to facilitate a fundraiser through his wealthy brother. On cross-examination, the defense showed that the school did get its money without the fundraiser ever be

Chicago News Report: Gang fight on CTA bus, passenger possibly stabbed : This fight took place on a #87 bus near the 8700 blog of South Indiana. I wonder if I can find this report anywhere else or even if there were any updates. Via Blotter !

Just a reminder that this Saturday, Greater Chatham Alliance.is hosting a meeting with new 6th ward alderman Rod Sawyer, as well as Chief of Staff Brian Sleet  and Paul Bryson - Supervisor, Streets and Sanitation Saturday, May 21, 2011 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. St. James Lutheran Church 8000 S. Michigan, Chicago IL 60619 See our previous entry for more info

Was leaving the Harlan LSC meeting Thursday night. For a limited time you will see displays of artwork in the hallway starting from the main entrance.  This display on the ceiling was noted at the LSC meeting. The white baby booties represented those young people who have been injured in violence in Chicago. The red baby booties represents those young people who have died as a result of violence in Chicago. In case you want to see more of the creativity of Harlan High School students, I will refer you to this page at Harlan's official website with galleries for at least four years - starting in 2007 - of Harlan art fairs. Also check out the Harlan Arts House Small Learning Communities page as well. Also I want to refer you to one of my personal favorite. I favor allowing citizens to own guns, but this should drive home the message of how dangerous guns are. You can find that at the Harlan website as well

[ VIDEO ] The new Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer was interviewed on Wednesday's edition of Chicago Tonight. Duration 19 minutes.

Council’s Black Caucus Elects New Chair - Chicago News Cooperative Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) of the neighboring edges out Ald. Latasha Thomas (17th) to take the chairmanship of the city's Black Caucus: The City Council’s black caucus has elected Ald. Howard Brookins (21st Ward) as its new leader. The caucus met after Wednesday’s council meeting and unanimously selected Brookins, said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th), the former chairman of the group who stepped down in March. Brookins was chosen over Ald. Latasha Thomas (17th), who was reportedly considered the front-runner. Thomas did not immediately return calls for comment. Brookins said his goals as caucus chairman include increasing the number of black-owned businesses that receive city contracts, preventing a loss of African-American representation on the council as a result of the remapping of the city’s wards, and pushing for a plan to reallocate police resources from low-crime areas to high-crime areas.

Well at least there is no confusion for this meeting there was a date listed on Harlan's marquee here. It also helps that well I already knew the meeting was scheduled from the time of the last meeting . Next meeting is May 19th @ 6:30 PM. Harlan is located at 9652 S. Michigan Ave. It should be noted that, I saw the City Council in action online today. Newly inaugurated Alderman Roderick Sawyer just so happen to have made mention of Harlan today refering to the school by its full name. Basically what he was speaking on is recognition of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) students. Not sure what the resolution was about as I just joined the city council already in progress. It's safe to say that they recognized a certain JROTC program within the Chicago Public School. BTW, it was noted that some young people from this ward have secured nominations to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Congrats to those young people! And I can only hope they w

Chatham/Avalon Park Community Council: Revitalize & Rebuild Chatham !!! : If You Care About Your Community Please Join Us! Host: Chatham Avalon Park Community Council When: Monday May 23, 2011 at 5:30 pm Where: Northern Trust Company, 7801 S. State St., Chi. IL 60619 Hmmm, this should be interesting.

Information courtesy of ECHO Development " E nriching C ommunities by H arnessing O ptions JOB LEADS 5.17.11

We saw some video of city workers replacing signs with former Mayor Daley's name with those that has Mayor Emanuel's name. Since we already know one of the Mayors tasks is to put this city back under fiscal order, he wanted no more signed changed with his name on it. And Roderick Sawyer already has his first quote from the Sun-Times since he took the oath yesterday: Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th), one of 13 new aldermen slated to attend their first City Council meeting on Wednesday, said it’s not enough for Emanuel to call a halt to the sign replacement. The son of the late Mayor Eugene Sawyer said it’s time to eliminate “vanity” signs. “The signs should say, `City of Chicago, Welcome.’ It doesn’t have to have the mayor’s name on them. It’s a vanity thing,” Sawyer said. “If you’re gonna change the signs, change them once and for all, so we never have to do it again. Goodness knows, we’re in a financial crisis. We don’t need to change these signs as mayors come and go — assu

This pic above I found at Progress Illinois ! Anyone we can see the new City Council and the new Mayor in action at 10 AM on May 16th. For those of you who have never witnessed a meeting of Chicago's City Council in person you can head up to the 2nd floor at City Hall located @ 121 North LaSalle Street.  This page from the new City Clerk - Susana Mendoza - have rules for admission to the meetings of the Chicago City Council. You can also go to the City Clerk's website to view a session of the Chicago City Council in case you're not able to physically visit the City Council's chambers. It will be available on the day of the sessions.   Provided by the City Clerk's office, a seating chart for the City Council. An image is posted below. The numbers represents all the wards of the individual alderman. And remember the Mayor is now Rahm Emanuel. :P

The Red Line extension from 95th Street into Roseland and Altgeld Gardens and how it could fit in as far as potential improvements in transportation in the Chicago area: The first project — the Red Line renovation and extension — is a necessity: The northern sections of the corridor (shared with the Purple Line) are a century old and the Chicago Transit Authority has already presented a number of alternatives that would relieve the problem. Also on tap is the extension of the corridor south to 130th Street , designed to improve the commuting times for people who live in the city’s Far South Side, whose residents are transit-dependent but poorly served. The combined cost: Somewhere between $3 and $6 billion. The whole article which discusses not only Mayor Emanuel's transit policy but also transit policy as a whole around the Chicago area is worth a long read.

Check out this 1919 built 2-flat located @ 7815 South Michigan Avenue via Trulia listed for sale by Sergio & Banks @ $29,900 currently: great investment opportunity!! brick two flat w/6 bedrooms, 2.5 ba*full-finish ed basement*enclosed porch*3 car detached garage* taxes prorated at 100%* no survey/disclosures*rm sizes are approximate* cash offers only!* If you want to see more of this place check out the photo gallery . The interior photos suggest that this building is a fixer-upper. There needs to be some money spent to make this 2-flat habitable. If it was up to me I'd get rid of those two trees out front or at least have them moved somewhere that they'll thrive. You can find other real estate listings on our " Blotter " page.

[ VIDEO ] Early in the time this blog has operated I liked to keep tabs on this website called PubDef.org . It was a website that looked at what was going on in St. Louis, MO. The website's proprietor is Antonio French who these days is an Alderman in St. Louis having been first elected in 2008. The video above takes a look at all the developments and issues in his ward, St. Louis' 21st Ward . Some of what you see here especially as far as taking on crime and helping out our neighbors is something worth emulating in the future here in the 6th. Some of what you heard in that video, isn't much different than what has been said by the candidates for 6th Ward Alderman in the recently concluded municipal elections. For example what was said in a [ VIDEO ] by former candidate Richard Wooten.

CHA: Most high-rise residents relocated in city This article is actually from last month and includes a comment by Alderman-elect Roderick Sawyer. This quote concerns Chatham: The CHA, however, acknowledged that it has lost track of 2,202 families that once lived in CHA housing, and another 1,307 households found housing without CHA assistance. Former residents now live in 71 of Chicago's 77 neighborhoods, according to the report. However, the majority of them moved to neighborhoods such as Englewood, Woodlawn, Auburn Gresham, Roseland and Greater Grand Crossing, communities that already were burdened with high crime and poverty. Others moved into working-class African-American communities such as Chatham and South Shore, saturating formerly stable neighborhoods of single-family homes with renters. Chatham went from one voucher household in 1999 to 117 by the end of last year. Roderick Sawyer, the alderman-elect whose 6th Ward includes Chatham, said the neighborho

State Senator Donne Trotter (D-17th District) got a peek at his new map . His district may be in Will County and he knows that he may have to answer to more suburban mayors than he used to: It's a worrisome topic. Take state Sen. Donne Trotter (D-Chicago). Trotter represents parts of Chicago's Southeast Side and a few suburbs. Due to population losses, his district going forward is likely to stretch into Will County. Knowing that, Trotter has paid closer attention to complaints from mayors statewide. The state is threatening to reduce the amount of money it gives local governments. Currently, Trotter only has to be responsive to a few mayors. He knows next year, he may be answering to many more. And they will be watching closely how he votes on the funding issue.

Alderman Sawyer will be at the Greater Chatham Alliance Meeting on Saturday, May 21. GCA flyer below provided by Levois Save the Date- Alderman Meeting

 [ VIDEO ] This aired last night on Chicago Tonight. Alderman-elect Roderick Sawyer appeared with veteran Alderman Scott Waguespack (32nd Ward), George Cardenas (12th), and Joe Moore (49th). Talking about the new line-up of committees for the Chicago City Council.

This article about Aisaha Butler's R.A.G.E organization out of Englewood talks about what that organization is doing as far as ward redistricting. Alderman-elect Sawyer was the only person able to come on record to talk about the problems of Englewood: To Asiaha Butler and the other members of RAGE, Englewood’s political pot is bubbling. The question is: Do too many aldermen spoil the broth? A combined 3.1 square miles, Englewood and West Englewood are split among six wards: the 3rd, 6th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 20th. But a bigger problem, according to Butler: There is not one aldermanic office in the neighborhood. Residents say this is a symbol that none of the aldermen wants to take the lead in tackling the neighborhood’s problems. RAGE members are calling for redistricting that would reshape Greater Englewood into just two wards. Englewood has been in political flux this spring: Of the 14 aldermanic seats contested in the April 5 runoff election, five were in wards that include

Residents train to help first responders during city disasters - Chicago Sun-Times Does anyone out there plan to take advantage of this training: Since 2004, more than 350 citizens — everyone from lawyers to teachers to civil engineers — have graduated from a 20-hour course that trains them to serve as the eyes and ears of Chicago’s first responders. The team hasn’t been called to duty in a disaster yet, but its members have helped in city evacuation drills. The course is taught by the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications and the Chicago Police Department. Last month at the Chicago Fire Academy, 20 students were told not to enter buildings with catastrophic damage or attempt to fight major blazes. “Still, there’s a lot you can do,” said one trainer, Thomas Henkey, of OEMC. In a parking lot, the students learned how to use a fire extinguisher to put out small fires. They were told to work with a buddy who can watch for danger as the person in front uses the

This post may be bumped up towards the weekend, just as a forewarning. Well I've been wanting to write this post since the conclusion of last month's run off races. I wanted to write about Alderman Lyle who is leaving the city council and the coming of Roderick Sawyer who defeated her to take the 6th Ward seat. Also note that for the first time in 22 years Chicago will be under a new Mayor with Rahm Emanuel. When there is all this newness I'm sure there is a lot of excitement, but there is uncertainty. What will an Alderman Sawyer really mean to our communities here in the 6th Ward? What will a Mayor Emanuel mean to the rest of our fair city? Well because there will be new fresh people who will not only lead our city but serve on the Chicago City Council I can sense there is a certain amount of excitement. People were excited about Roderick Sawyer representing our part of the city. Indeed many people reminisce about his father who also used to be Alderman of the 6th W

Clout Street : Under the new structure outlined today by Emanuel, Burke would remain chairman of the Finance Committee. But Ald. Patrick O’Connor, 40th, Emanuel's chief council ally, would become chairman of the new Workforce Development and Audit Committee. O’Connor’s committee would be stacked with the council’s most powerful aldermen, including Burke and Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd. And it would handle some of the significant legislation now funneled through Burke’s committee. Exactly how influential the new committee will be will depend on the new committee rules and the amount each gets to spend each year, details that have yet to be revealed. Emanuel announced the proposed committee structure after O’Connor worked through the weekend to line up a majority of signatures needed to win their approval at next week's council meeting. Burke was involved in the discussions. While only the council has the authority to determine its leadership, Chicago’s mayors have often pla

Black leaders have ‘fair share’ fears - Chicago Sun-Times We already know from what happened with the report of a new Chicago Police Chief - the Newark Police is under Federal investigation and McCarthy used to be the police chief there - there are Black alderman who are less than happy that Blacks aren't the heads of any of the public safety departments in Chicago. So basically Laura Washington writes a column about that in the Sun-Times. Basically it's about Mayor-elect Emanuel's picks to head his administrative teams: While black and Latino elected officials are scrambling to kiss the ring, many are privately wary that their “people” won’t get their “fair share” of appointments, and even more important, the jobs and resources that emanate from City Hall. Ethnic and racial politics are embedded in the DNA of big-city governing. Interest groups — and the mayors who appoint them — have long played racial “gotcha” politics with top appointments. Mayors — and their e

Because as of late this post has been recieving more comments, this post is worth a BUMP to the top originally posted by JP Paulus on April 29, 2011 - Levois photo from http://sharala.blogspot.com/2008/11/took-me-long-enough.html   Pastor John Hannah, of New Life Covenant - Oakwood church, reported on his Facebook account that Happy Liquors at 79th & Cottage Grove, is temporarily closed, as of this morning. Previously, he called on parishioners to go to City Hall in favor of closing Happy Liquors.. Hopefully crime will decrease. It will be up to us to help find a better business, and to patrol the area to ward off "riff raff".

Culture of Calm funds were used by Harlan High School to send some of their students to Detroit on a trip. I found out about this when I went to one of their LSC meetings. Via Chicago News Coop : Derrion’s death in 2009 shocked the city and the nation. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and top Justice Department officials flew to Chicago to announce a $500,000 federal grant to help Fenger restore a peaceful learning environment. Shortly afterward, Ron Huberman, then the C.P.S. chief, announced the Culture of Calm initiative to reduce violence in some of the city’s most troubled high schools. Chosen as one of six focus schools, [Roberto Clemente High School] received $1.1 million to put the program into effect. Over all, the district received $260 million in stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Of that sum, Culture of Calm received $40 million for the 2010-11 school year, the second-largest amount distributed to district programs, behind early childhood

View more videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com . [ VIDEO ] This story that I found over at NBC Chicago's political blog Ward Room is about a city council orientation hosted by Ald. Ed Burke (14th). Part of this story is his relationship with Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel after his election in February and any attempt to remove Burke from his chairmanship of the city council's finance committee. You can vaguely see Roderick Sawyer in some portions of this clip, unfortunately, he doesn't speak on camera here.

An example of what goes on at our neighborhood university. Did you know that they shot a TV program pilot right on campus? This is what this article from The Citizen is about: At 7pm in the Breakey Theatre—located in Douglass Hall—Dr. Christine List, chairperson of the department of English, Communications, Media Arts & Theatre took the stage and introduced the entire cast and crew as well as several graduates who returned to the campus just to see the pilot. Welcoming the crowd, List addressed the audience who was anxious to see what “The Chill” was all about. “The Chill” is a story about a college student named Khrys Carter (DeShawn Smith) who leaves Mississippi and moves to Chicago with his half-brother Toni (Roderick Haygood). The pilot revolves around Khrys getting adjusted to his new life. He makes several new friends and also begins to take interest in a girl named Tiffany (Tessa Harp), whose boyfriend Marcus (Astin Simmons) becomes a constant source of trouble for Khry

Three videos from cable access personality Marc Sims as he interviews Asiaha Butler from the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE) last month. You can see this interview in three videos [ PART1 , PART 2 , PART 3 ].

the following was written on April 24th by Levois, with notes from Worlee. In case you don't follow us on Facebook... Until Alderman-elect Sawyer is able to officially take office next month. Ald. Lyle comments on a post made at the FB page with regards to her TV show The 6th Ward Scene . A variety of subjects are tackled here: As for the show, it was taped in March, before the election and I asked Atty. Kim Egonwan, a resident to do the interview to highlight the talent we have in our Ward. I can not con ... tinue to do show as Alderman because their is soon to be a new Alderman. It will be his decision as to whether he wishes to continue a Cable TV show. In fact over the years less than 10 of 50 taped any sort of show (until election time). As to the office, the office is not closed. None of my full time staff persons have taken vacation. We’ve continued to serve the residents everyday, except for 2 and phone, email and walk in requests are still being handled. The Streets

Black aldermen unhappy with Emanuel’s police and fire picks - Chicago Sun-Times Two of our neighboring Aldermen from Howard Brookins in the 21st to Michelle Harris in the 8th has some comments about Mayor-elect Emanuel's appointments to his public safety team. In addition to naming Garry McCarthy the new top cop, he also named Robert Hoff to head the Chicago Fire Department, Gary Schenkel to head the cities emergency management office, and the only black on this team is Public Safety chief of staff Felicia Davis. Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) added, “I’ve heard in the community, even with respect to Mr. Brizard, that he’s not from here. He’s not [really] African-American. He was born in Haiti. We just hope that we would be able to get some local folks. … Hopefully, this isn’t a sign of things to come — that it’s all outside people. But, we’ll see.” Ald. Michelle Harris (8th), chairman of the City Council’s Police Committee, did not share her colleagues’ concerns about race. She

Aldermen to Pay More for Pork in Wards - Chicago News Cooperative Ald. Howard Brookins (21st) is quoted in this article about how certain items in the "Aldermanic menu". With this menu Aldermen are given funds to take home to their wards for certain projects such as repaving streets, constructing curbs or gutters, new streetlights, etc. “It will hurt the aldermen in that we can’t do as much,” Ald. Howard Brookins (21st Ward) said. Despite annual budget deficits in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Daley has continued to allocate $66 million a year for the aldermanic menu program. Every spring, council members have cherished the chance to tour their wards and decide where to direct city dollars for improvements. Many aldermen protested in vain when the Daley administration hiked menu prices dramatically in 2005, the first such move in five years. Until then, a block of new curbs and gutters resulted in a charge of $28,500. That figure rose to $40,000 in 2005, and b

End of an era for City Council - Chicago Sun-Times This Carol Marin column discusses that last City Council meeting that Mayor Daley will preside over. Also noted in this piece is outgoing Alderman Freddrenna Lyle: Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) is leaving too. Like Stone, she was defeated after 13 years of representing Englewood and Chatham on the South Side. It has been a tough year in her ward, shell-shocked by the killings of two of its highly respected police officers, Thomas Wortham III and Michael Bailey. Ald. Lyle too talked of the great friendships among politicians who did not always see issues through the same prism. Like when she and colleague Ginger Rugai, retiring 19th Ward alderman, disagreed on the reallocation of police officers. Lyle wanted more, but Rugai didn’t want fewer. “She understood and I understood,” Lyle said. “Ginger and I are great friends.” How will this last Council meeting be, what with Daley departing and aldermen leaving? “Maudlin,” said Ly

[ VIDEO ] Melody Barnes from the White House Domestic Policy Council in the video above announces the finalists of the "Race to the Top Commencement Challenge. None of these high schools announced in this video are in the City of Chicago or the State of Illinois. Here's more about this Challenge : The Commencement Challenge invites public high schools across the country to demonstrate how their school best prepares them for college and a career, helping America win the future by out-educating our competitors and achieving President Obama’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020. The application includes essay questions and statistical information that illustrate how schools are promoting college and career readiness for all students while establishing a culture of student success and academic excellence. The winning school will host President Obama as their 2011 commencement speaker. The White House has partnered with Viacom and

McCarthy Well the Chicago Police board having narrowed down their choices for police superintendent last week made this potential appointment almost inevitable. Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel plans to name Newark, N.J., Police Director Garry McCarthy as his choice to be police superintendent in Chicago. According to a person on Emanuel's transition team, the Democrat will make the announcement Monday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so not to preempt Emanuel's announcement. McCarthy replaces Jody Weis, who left the superintendent's job when his contract ended earlier this year. McCarthy would take over a department that's suffered from morale problems under Weis, who came to the job after working at the FBI and was considered an outsider. McCarthy has years of big-city police experience after working in Newark and New York City. Back to that first link from the Sun-Times I think this is a good step. Is it necessary, probably not